ART > Past Work

collage, pajon, print, mythology, antiquarian, victoriana, epic, allegory, vanitas, death, skull, landscape, etymology, natural history, anatomy, danse macabre, memento mori
A Flash of Teeth, A String of Pearls
Mixed Media Collage on Antique Book Cover
10 x 13in
2015

I often have dreams that my teeth are falling out, disintegrating, or are too big for my mouth so they wobble and fall out while I speak. There are many interpretations of these types of dreams, instability in ones life, lack of control, fear of aging. I can certainly attest to experiencing the first two, but the last strikes me as incredibly vain, something that I am most certainly not. These pearly whites say a lot about us, but a chip here and there ads character. We smile at one another as a way of making connections or to appear friendly a bearing of teeth once considered a warning rendered into a greeting by thousand of years of evolution. This glowing gaze stares ever outward, across a compass rose shaped map that never points true north. What it sees is, or appears to see, is a vainglorious scene wherein one of great beauty is offered gifts of poppy and pomegranate, pearls and golden filigree. The two at the top left argue over who shall present their gift. The egg left unprotected has shattered and cracked, so much attention clouding any chance it will go noticed.